Time’s up for the Yes2Rail blog, which I launched on June 30, 2008 as a paid consultant on Honolulu's elevated rail project. Yes2Rail’s August 13, 2012 post was its last following the author's move to Sacramento, CA. You’re invited to read four-plus years of information-packed entries, many of which are linked at our “aggregation site.” Look for the paragraph with red copy in the right-hand column, below. Mahalo for all the positive comments Yes2Rail received since its start.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Rail’s All-Important Goal – Improved Reliability

With so many new people in key government positions on Oahu, the times indeed are a-changin’, as Bob Dylan observed several decades ago. We’re taking pains to note early in 2011, however, that Honolulu rail’s goals are unchanged and as important as ever.

Tuesday’s post highlighted the mobility restoration goal, and today we’re focusing on #2 in the final environmental impact statement list – to improve corridor travel reliability. We’ve banged away at the reliability issue for as long as Yes2Rail has been on the ‘net, since it’s so easily appreciated by commuters who’ve lost it.

The significant and obvious benefit of grade-separated transit – elevated rail in Honolulu – is that it’s completely immune to traffic congestion on highways and local streets. Subways and elevated systems run on timetables that are highly reliable, unlike surface transit modes.

Riders know with a high degree of certainty exactly when their train will arrive at every station on the route, and that means they can accurately predict their destination's arrival time before they even depart.

Travel that requires mingling with surface traffic does not allow users to make such a prediction; that includes at-grade rail, HOT lanes, buses, taxis and of course, the privately-owned vehicle. Only grade-separated transit does, and that’s why goal #2 is second to none. Here’s how it’s described in rail’s FEIS:

As roadways become more congested, they become more susceptible to substantial delays caused by such incidents as traffic accidents or heavy rain. Even a single driver unexpectedly braking can have a ripple effect that delays hundreds of cars. Because of the operating conditions in the study corridor, current travel times are not reliable for either transit or automobile trips. Because TheBus primarily operates in mixed traffic, transit users experience the same level of travel time uncertainty as automobile users. To arrive at their destination on time, travelers must allow extra time in their schedules to account for the uncertainty of travel time. During the a.m. peak period, more than one-third of bus service is more than five minutes late. This lack of predictability is inefficient and results in lost productivity or free time. A need exists to provide more reliable transit services (emphasis added).

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This Isn't Political

Yes2Rail is a blog about the Honolulu rail transit project, which has become the key issue in this year’s mayoral race. We comment on the candidates’ plans to address Oahu’s growing congestion problem and whether those plans could meet the need as well as elevated rail can and will. That’s not the same as criticizing the candidates, and we urge our readers to recognize the difference.

Another red-light runner meets Denver at-grade train, 6.13.12

Honolulu rail will be elevated, with zero possibility for accidents like those shown in this column in cities with at-grade systems. Visit our "aggregation site" for much more on why elevated rail is the only reasonable way to build Honolulu rail.

What riding the train will avoid

Bus Accident Aftermath on H-1

'Black Tuesday'--9/5/06 Crash Produced Nightmare Commute

Typical H-1 Traffic

About Me

After five years of active-duty service as an Army officer with duty stations in West Berlin and South Vietnam, reported and edited for newspapers and broadcast stations (including all-news radio) in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Honolulu. Covered Honolulu city government for the Honolulu Advertiser and KGMB-TV. Served on Congressman Cec Heftel's staff in Honolulu and Washington, then managed corporate communications and was Hawaiian Electric Company's spokesman for nearly a decade. A communications consultant for 19 years before moving to California in 2012. Launched, produced and hosted Hawaii Public Radio's "live" weekly "Energy Futures" public affairs program in 2009-10. Authored books on The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ("Punchbowl" 1982) and on the decline of standard grammar in business and society ("Me and Him Are Killing English!" 2007). Now an information officer with the California Department of Water Resources.